Steam purifier



Oct 17, 1933- w. L McLAuGHLlN Er AL 1,931,135

STEAKV PURIFIER 'Filed July 5. 1932 MD.E

ATTORNEY.

J particles of foreign matter and water.

Patented Oct. 17, 1933 STEAM PURIFIER p Wilson L. McLaughlimHerrold L. vMcLaughlin," l and Virg Ballon, Des Moines, Iowa Application July 5,1932. serial NQ. 629,904

a claims. (o1. 418s- 102) The principal object of our invention is to provide a device capable of successfully removing undesirable foreign matter and smallparticles of condensed water from either low or high pressure steam. 1 l

A further object of this invention is to provide a steam purifier that requires no motive power for its operation.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a steam purier for either low or high pressure steam that is economical in manufacture and' durable in use. i These and other objects `will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Our inventionconsists in the construction, 'ar-` rangement, and combination of the various partsl of the device, whereby the objects contemplatedl are attained as hereinaftermoreV fully set forth, pointed out in our claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side view of ourcomplete device with a section cutaway to illustrate its interior construction. V

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of our steam purifier taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an inside view of a portion of the puriiier housing illustrating one of the longitudinal vertical collecting grooves. y

Fig. 4 is an enlarged top plan sectional view of a portion of the steam purifier housing for more fully illustrating the construction of the collecting grooves therein.

Many uses for steam in the commercial field today require that the steam be free of undesirable The chief objections, however, to steam puriers now being used for this p urpose are their great cost and inability to successfully function with 'low pressure steam. We have overcome such objections as will be hereinafter appreciated. p

Referring to the drawing, we have used the numeral 10 to designate the steam purifier housing of elongated cylindrical construction. numeral l1 designates the steam inlet pipe passing through the center bottom of the housing 10 and extending upwardly in the center of the housing to the inside top of the housing, as shown in Fig. 1. The numeral 12 designates an opening in the side of the pipe and communicating with the inside of the housing 10. This opening l2 is positioned a slight distance above the inside bottom of the housing 10 and is designed to permit the steam from the pipe 11 to pass into the housing 10 near the inside bottom of the housing. The numeral 13 designates a baiile member inside the The f pipe 11 and at theV top of the .opening 12 for closing the remaining portion of the pipe above the opening 12 against the steam and for guiding the steam out of the pipe 11 through the opening 12.

The-numeral 14 designates a spiral member embracing that portion of the pipe 11 inside the housing 12 with the pipe 11 acting as the core of` the spiral member, as shown in Fig." 1 and Fig. 2. The outside diameter of thisspiralconforms with the inside diameter yof the housing 10. l

The numeral. 15 designates a plurality of. spaced apart longitudinall vertical grooves formedY in the inside circular wall ofthe housing 10. Each of these grooves have two sides, one side of which lis at-'right angles to the Yinside face of the housing wall and the other side of which is at an anglethereto,.as shown in Fig. 4.

These grooves 15 extend approximately the entire inside length of the housinglO :and decrease in both width and depth as they extend upwardly. The numeral 16 designatesthe steam outlet pipe leading'from the inside top` of the housing 10. The numeral 1'7 designates av Water trapcommunicating with the inside bottoml of the housing 10. The numeral 18 designates a water discharge pipe leading from the trap 1'17. This trap 17 is of the conventional type and as is well known, will pass collected water or like from the inside bottom of the housing 10, but will not passv steam. The numeral 19 designates a manually operated valve interimposed in the pipe 11 at a point before thepipe 11 enters the housing 10. The member 14 may spiral upwardly either to the right or left, but it is highly imperative Y that the grooves 15 be so designed accordingly in order that the steam travel will be directed toward the sides of the grooves that are perpendicular to the inside face'of the housing 10. In Fig.

1, Weshow the member 14 spiraling upwardly to the right and therefore the sides of the collecting grooves perpendicular to the inside face of the housing are facing to the left or into the steam travel, as shown in Fig. 2. It will also be noted that the tapering of the widthrof the grooves does not affect the vertical plane of their Lff sides that are perpendicular to the inside face of the housing. Such'tapering, however, does treated lto pass through the pipe '11 into the f inside bottom of the housing 10. The `steam by its own pressure will rush upwardly to passy from the top of the housing thefsteam will be rethe housing through the outlet pipe 16. To reachV situated to contact and encourage the collecting" of the particles. The cross sectional construction of the collecting grooves not only guides the un' desired particles into their areas, but causes a certain amount of eddies which also' encourage thel collecting and condensing ofthemparticles.

Once the particles of water and dirt are trapped in the grooves they are protected from'the action of the flow of steam and may move unhampered downwardly in the grooves to the bottom of the housing, from which they `may beremoved from time to time or may pass through the trapl'. As the steam passes upwardly it will become more free of such undesirable particles, while on the` other hand, the particles in the grooves will increase as the grooves extend downwardly. It is for these reasons that our grooves 15 decrease in both depth and width as they extend upwardly.

rIhe steam, purified of undesirable matter and` water,l will pass from the device through the pipe 16. Y

Even low pressure steamwill develop suflicient rapidity in its spiraling movement to the top of the housing for centrifugal force .to act upon and remove impurities. If desired, 'the pressure of the steam and the rapidity. of its vpassage through the device may be manually controlled by the valve 19.

Although'our device is especially designed for the purifying of steam, it may be used .to equal advantage in the purifying of other fluids.

tend upwardly.

tion and arrangementof our improved steam purifier without departing from the real spirit and purpose of ourinvention, and itis our intention to cover'by our claims any modified forms of vstructure or use of mechanicalV equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope.

We claim:

1. In a device of the class described, a cylindrical upright elongated housing, a steam inlet pipe extending into the bottom of said housing, an outlet pipe communicating with the inside top of said housing, a spiral member in said housing for causing the steam passing through said housing to follow a spiral path, and a plurality of spaced apart longitudinally extending grooves in the inside face of said housing; said grooves each decreasing in depth and Width as they ex- 2. In a device of the class described; an upright cylindrical housing, a pipe passing through the bottom of said housing and extending upwardly inside said housing to the inside top there-r of saidpipe having an opening communicating with the inside of saidhousing near the inside bottom'of said housing,maspiral vznen'iber inside said. housing and circling said pipe therein, a plurality of grooved passageways in the inside face of said housing, and an outlet pipe'rcommunicating with the inside top of said housing.

3. In a device of the class described, a cylindrical housing, a steam inlet pipe extendinginto sad housing, a'steam outletv pipe communicating with the inside of said housing, a spiral member in said housing for causing the steam passing through said housing to follow a spiral path, and

WILSON L. M'CLAUGHL'IN. HERROLDl L. MCLAUGHLIN. viRG BALLOU.

Some changes may be made in the construc- 

